BBC-Deaths spotlight Taiwan's 'overwork' culture

Article reading:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16834258

▲Picture from: http://twhijoe.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-post_4379.html

Working hard is a kind of nationality for countries such as Japan, Korean and Taiwan. Coincidentally, the three countries mentioned above are Asian countries and are really close to each other geographically. But, it doesn’t mean that all the Asian nations have the same nationality. Back to the topic “Taiwan's 'overwork' culture”, I think it is not merely culture, but it is an ingrained habit or life pattern. Through out ordinary people’s life in Taiwan (maybe it is a bit exaggerated), we spend our efforts working harder, harder and harder. And if we would like to work harder, we have to spend more time on working. I personally attribute this condition to the education system in Taiwan—the entrance exams. We are told when we were little child that we have to study hard if we want to get a good job in the future. The way to evaluate whether we study well or not is through the entrance exams (for college, for senior high or even for junior high). When entering the society, our boss will tell us: if you want to earn more money, you have to work hard. Working hard or working overtime becomes a doctrine in our society.

BBC-Afghans lampoon clerics over women ruling

Article reading:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17296607

It's hard for people from democratic country like us to imagine the life in Afghan. Afghan is now a republic country; however, what its government and its religious council (the Ulema council) are trying to do to the country seems like a throwback to the Taliban era (which is autocracy and caesaropapism). The recommendation that proposed by the Ulema council is a restrictive guidelines for women; woman's right and freedom will no longer exist. People in Afghan divide in two: one party is the youngsters who protest against the new law; the other party is the elders who think the law is in accordance with Islam, their religious belief.